We’ve just enjoyed our fifth Messy Church and it was quite possibly the best so far. The reason for its success is fairly simple. There were 32 kids and 26 adults in church. In the past we’ve been as disparate as 37 kids with only 9 adults and the place was a zoo. We need man-to-man marking!

At Messy Church we’ve been working through the “I am” sayings of Jesus and last night we came to “I am the true vine.” The message was simple. We enjoy Messy Church because we get messy with paint and glue but there’s one sort of mess God does not want us to have and that is messy lives. Our lives get messy when we do bad things and don’t do good things. God calls this sin. Not only does sin mess up our lives it messes up our relationship with God too. Queue the messy t-shirt illustration with tommy K and brown sauce.

Jesus said “I am the true vine…You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you”

Jesus makes us clean by his word of love, his death on the cross for our sin. And once he’s made us clean he wants us to stay clean and produce fruit. Not grapes but the fruit of the Spirit (which the kids have been doing in Kids Klub).

John 15:4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

And so we get to the end of Messy Church for this term. I pray his word will bear fruit, in young and old alike.